Identity Verification: Could Help Prevent Frauds in Travel Industry

Feb 3
17:01

2021

John Murphyy

John Murphyy

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How a thriving travel industry could still thrive with proper implementation of identity verification solutions to increase fraud detection and prevention.

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As travelers,Identity Verification: Could Help Prevent Frauds in Travel Industry Articles we are familiar with obstacles headed our way - it's one inconvenience to another. Moving through the airport security and sharing accommodation while taking an international trip - identity is key for getting your room or entrance into the country. Especially, when consumers come across shared services they are concerned about the person on the other end of a transaction. According to Statista, “Travel industry’s revenue is projected to grow 13.9% by 2025”. 

 

Identify verification plays a major role in creating trust among customers and confidence while dealing with strangers. The world is connected globally, where proof of identity is essential to access goods and services. Therefore, various travel businesses have to take proper verification methods for keeping frauds at bay. 

 

As more people are moving to explore new territories across the globe, it serves the travel business with more business opportunities. Although, It also requires customer security and identity verification to gain a competitive advantage. These opportunities are scrambled together. 

Securing Customer Journey in Shared Travel Economy 

 

There is more risk than security in the travel sharing economy as travel apps adopt fewer security measures for verifying and onboarding trustworthy customers. Most people consider risking themselves by often staying at a stranger's home, they found online. How you can be sure that a person is who they claim to be as they could turn out to be a scammer or a fraudster. 

 

Serving customers without knowing if they are pretending to be someone else could ultimately create a bad repute for businesses. So it's necessary for travel businesses to build better relations with their customers by minimizing the risk of frauds and criminal activities. Therefore, adopting AI-powered solutions for identity verification is essential to stop scammers in their tracks. 

 

A few identity verification methods making travel more secure are listed below: 

 

  • Biometric Authentication 

 

  • Passport Verification 

 

  • MRZ Verification 

 

  • Age Verification 

 

  • Payment Card Authentication 

 

These are often the best ways to intercept and prevent criminals from exploiting people online for the purpose of eliciting or committing identity theft. 

 

Often cybercriminals exploit the shared economy to launder money by gaining help from bad actors. They use stolen credit cards to utilize other traditional ways of money laundering methods, either in the form of bank drops or gift card purchases. 

 

It's critical for travel businesses to vet their customers properly through digital identity verification. Matching a person's identity with a real one could help companies to maintain a balance between fraud detection and user conversion. 

Regulations Affecting Travel Industry 

 

Regulators are facing a growing concern to provide security, convenience, and data protection to customers online. Some regulations, such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Payment Card Industry Data Security (PCI DSS), and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) are affecting the travel industry to boost consumer security. To keep up with  compliance practices and regulations, it's important for industries to incorporate effective and efficient solutions. Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering compliance are the most effective solutions to screen customer's background. It’s used to validate a person's identity before onboarding them. 

Advantages of Identity Verification In Travel Companies

 

For the past few years, biometric identity verification has emerged as the most popular way to identify and prevent fraud in the travel industry. As biometric verification uses unique physical traits to verify a person, it's often not easy to steal this information. Organizations associated with this type of identity verification ensure customer's safety and assets during travel. 

 

Here's an overview of a few benefits that identity verification has to offer to the travel industry. 

Onboarding Genuine Customers

While onboarding customers, it should be ensured that you will be onboarding only legitimate customers. Deploying a proper identity verification method could also help with offering security services and products to the customers. 

Less Requirement For Documentation 

An advanced solution for identity verification coupled with a biometric technology could potentially eliminate a requirement for multiple documents. The technology can help with facial scanning, fingerprint scanning, or other forms of biometric verification.  

 

Enhancing Customer Experience

Online identity verification helps organizations to improve customer experience. When customers visit your site and proper identity verification solutions are utilized, it could increase their trust in the business. 

 

Because it's crucial for travel agencies to track customer journeys - from booking to terminal or hotel check-in.

 

The travel industry has amassed a multi-billion dollar revenue in a few years, as countries' diplomatic relations have improved worldwide. By integrating a robust identity verification system the travel industry could still grow strong. The solution could help prevent identity fraud and take down cashback requests.